Loving Talia: A Dark Mafia Billionaire Romance (Amatucci Family Book 5)

by Sadie Jacks

  With a kick, she ditched her one good shoe. She was a whirling dervish as she screeched and screamed for someone to get the shoe out of her face. But she wouldn’t stand still long enough for someone to help her.

  I would have laughed, except I didn’t need her focused on me.

  Something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Another set of four guards came in, carrying a limp Arkady between their ranks. Blood dripped from his face as his head hung low, chin almost touching his neck.

  I fought not to run to him. My showing any concern for him right now would be even worse, for both of us. With effort, I turned back to watch Svetlana get a shoe removed from her cheek.

  She screamed bloody murder as one of the guards held her shoulders and another pulled on the stiletto. Once it was clear of her flesh, she pushed through them. Blood poured down her face, coated her neck, drenched her black velvet dress.

  Pushing back the urge to vomit when I saw her teeth through her cheek, I danced out of her range when she charged me. Her blows were wild and undisciplined. She was so amped on adrenaline and rage that she was losing herself.

  Smiling at the crazed woman, I smacked the back of her head with the shoe as she passed by me. Bitch was almost making this too easy. If it had been almost anyone else, I would have felt sorry for her.

  But it was Svetlana. I was out of sympathy and was feeling pretty ragey on my own.

  The room filled with masculine laughter as she faltered under the blow. Her shoulders tensed up as her body began to vibrate. With more hatred in her eyes than I’d known possible, she looked at me over her shoulder.

  I needed to put her down. Now. Before she got both of us killed.

  She turned her body to align with her head, like some kind of creepy doll being turned under its owner’s hand. Straightening her body, she walked towards me. With a flick of her hands, I felt her goon squad restrain my arms once more.

  I should have known she couldn’t go one on one with me. She had too much ego wrapped up in whatever this was.

  She kept walking until she was right up in my personal space. Her nose brushed mine. “When they rape you, I will sing with joy. When they break your mind, I will dance with happiness. When they finally kill you, I will orgasm.”

  I bit my inner cheek to keep from laughing in her face. Every word from her lips lost a little something due to the air escaping from the hole in her cheek. I just nodded.

  Her blue eyes fired as they filled with even more crazy. “That’s it? That’s all you have as a response?” The pitch of her voice was slowly reaching a register only dogs could hear.

  I nodded again. Felt my lips twitch.

  She leaned down, not taking her eyes off me. Flicking the skirt of her dress to the side, she pulled something from between her legs. As she straightened, I saw the light glint off a blade.

  “You won’t have the breath to respond now.” She shoved the knife up into my body so hard, she rose up on her toes.

  Searing pain and angry fire lit up my brain and belly. I think I found the spleen I’d lost earlier in this hellish ordeal. Rafe would be so proud. But I had to give her this: She was right. I certainly didn’t have the breath to respond. Every single neuron in my skull was in shock.

  Tears flooded my eyes as a scream ripped from my throat.

  Her bloody smirk mocked me for my lack of control.

  She turned to the head table. “She’s all yours, Kuznetsov.” She left the blade in my belly and turned away.

  “Wait,” I said around the pain shrieking through me.

  She stopped mid-motion. Turned back, one blonde brow raised high.

  “You must not have,” pant, pant, pant, “meant that much to him.” Pant, pant, pant. “He’s never once,” pant, pant, pant, “mentioned you.”

  She sprang back at me.

  Chapter 34 – Foster

  I could hear masculine laughter and high pitched feminine screams. My insides iced over as we ran through the halls. The mostly silent thpt, thpt, thpt of suppressed gun fire was barely audible over the noise in the main hall. Thank fuck for that.

  A double click sounded in my ear. All clear behind us. One more small miracle to add to the tally I was going to owe the universe for all of this.

  I brought up the blueprints of the main hall. Formerly used as a ballroom, it was now some kind of pretentious living room. A huge fucker that we had no idea how it was staged. For all we knew it was one big open space. We just had to pray that there was going to be some kind of coverage.

  On that note, I waved Striker forward. He had a scope and camera. Not for the first time this mission had his tech saved our asses. Including the Interpol guys.

  Striker eased in front of me, sent the mechanized scope around the corner. We all huddled around the camera display.

  I felt my belly erupt with hatred and anger. Two men were holding Talia between them while Karine taunted her.

  With a discipline I didn’t know I had, I forced myself to look around the room. We needed to get closer. We needed a place to infiltrate the room without detection.

  I pointed at one section of the room. “This. This is where we enter.” I made sure every person knew the entrance point.

  They all nodded.

  Talia’s scream shattered my attention. The camera showed me that Karine had shoved something into Talia’s belly. Blood oozed down her body, melting the black fabric to her abdomen.

  My head went silent, my body was suffused with calm. This ended now.

  With a flick of my wrist, I sent everyone out to their spots.

  Once I received a click over the mic from each person, I nodded. Getting down to my belly, I crawled over the floor. Thankful for the ledge that concealed us.

  Just as I was getting into position, I heard Talia speak. “You must not have,” pant, pant, pant, “meant that much to him.” Pant, pant, pant. “He’s never once,” pant, pant, pant, “mentioned you.”

  A brutal smile pulled at my mouth. My girl wasn’t down or out yet.

  Chapter 35 – Talia

  “NET!” one of the brothers shouted.

  Restrained with only an inch between our faces, I sighed a breath around the agony in my lungs as she was hauled off. Two guards frog-marched her to the far side of the room. They never once let go of her arms.

  Gathering my strength, I turned to look at the brothers Kuznetsov. “Is it time for the raping to start yet?” I smiled at them. Felt the blood well and ooze over my mangled lips. My belly quivered and twitched as the blade caressed my guts. Sweet fuck, who knew getting stabbed was so freaking awful?

  “Da.” The oldest brother rose from his seat. He walked to the end of the table, slapped one of the guys on the shoulder. “He will go first. But we must get setup.”

  With that, he swung a hand in a weird twirling motion. From behind the table, a small group of men came running. Cameras, lighting equipment, and something I was pretty sure was a boom mike were carried in. They scurried around like rats through the garbage. Little did they know they lived in the garbage.

  Almost as quickly as it had begun, the film crew was done. They had two massive cameras set up, one on either end of the massive table. Oh goody.

  The guy Barrikad had indicated got up from his chair. He nodded to his boss, made some kind of motion at his forehead.

  Barrikad returned it.

  The guy spun on his heel and moved towards me.

  I looked at my soon to be rapist. Young enough to still be in college, he didn’t really look like the studious type. No, this guy looked like he’d earned his spot at the table. Shaved head with enough ink to make a biker gang jealous, he smiled as he pushed back from the table.

  Long and lean, he walked over. His jeans were already unbuckled, he pulled his hard dick out of its confines. Stroking himself as he closed the distance, he licked his lips. Made little kissy faces.

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re gonna have to try harder than that to make me scared, little boy. I’ve alr
eady been raped by the brothers. Nothing you’ve got is going to matter.” I flicked a look down to his crotch. Laughed. “Hell, I probably won’t even feel it inside me.”

  Male laughter broke out through the room.

  Rapey McRapterton snarled. He darted forward. He was so close, I could smell the vodka on his breath.

  A quiet thpt sounded from somewhere behind me, just as Mr. Dick Stroke’s face crumpled with a look of silent surprise as he fell to the ground.

  I blinked in surprise as I was misted with liquid. My arms still restrained, I fought not to lick my lips. Had his face just been obliterated? Really?

  From the side of my vision, I saw Barrikad jump to his feet. He yelled as he pulled something from the waistband of his pants. “KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!” He fired two shots up into the air.

  Sheer chaos erupted around the room. Gunshots, yells. Russian, English, a couple languages I didn’t understand.

  My guards dropped my arms. I fell to the floor, covered my head. Ripping the knife from my belly, I screamed and started crawling as quickly as I could. So in reality, a snail would have beaten me to the wall, but at least I got there.

  With the fire fight still raging behind me, I heard a low cackling laugh. “Stupid cunt. You’ve moved yourself into the wall.”

  I looked over my shoulder, saw Svetlana only feet behind me. Shit. She was right. There was nowhere to run, certainly nowhere to hide. I’d just delivered myself up on a platter.

  She straightened as the volley of gunfire raged around us. Lifting her hand, she took aim. Fired.

  The noise blended in with the rest of the room, but the bloom of pain in my right leg had my focused attention. The scream shot from my mouth. Bitch was going to pay. She’d made me scream twice now.

  Blinking through the tears I couldn’t control, I waited for her to keep coming. Waited for her to lift the gun again.

  As she took aim, so did I. Taught by the best, I let the knife sail from my hand as she fired the gun.

  The knife caught her in the upper chest. Too high to do much damage, but it stopped her from shooting me as she hissed like air from a balloon. She fell back onto her ass. Rage consumed her features.

  She yanked the knife from her body. Made her way over to me.

  Just as she was getting ready to strike, a body fell between us.

  “NO!” he shouted just as the knife lodged in his chest.

  “NO!” I screamed as Arkady fell against my legs. “HELP!” I tried to get to him. Tried to roll him over. Agony and adrenaline made for a powerful mix as I stretched to cover him. To protect him.

  Svetlana cackled and laughed like a woman possessed. She spit at him. The glob of spit and blood landed on his shoulder.

  I ripped the knife from his body with a silent apology. With a hard flick of my wrist, I sent it flying back at her. It caught her in the eye.

  As suddenly as the gunfire started, it stopped.

  “I need help!” I screamed into the silence.

  The sound of pounding feet. The rush of voices of people I should know. The world was going gray and fuzzy around me.

  “You can’t save her. She’s been dead for hours,” Svetlana squealed.

  “Shut her up,” Foster demanded as he rolled Arkady’s body off mine. “Hellcat?” He brushed my hair off my face.

  “You came?” For some reason, I don’t think I really expected him to. That he had, that he’d done all of this, and I was the person he ran for first…it broke open something inside me.

  He smiled, although the edges were turned down at the edges. “Of course, I came. Talia, I—”

  With the remaining strength I had, I lifted his gun. Pointed it over his shoulder.

  I shot Svetlana. In the belly. “See how you like it, bitch.”

  It was the last thing I remembered.

  Chapter 36 – Foster

  No, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. Not like this. The blood that covered Talia had my gorge rising as I tried to apply pressure to her unconscious body.

  They’d fired too early. Not everyone had been in position. We’d lost two men, two more were injured, and Talia was dying.

  Black anger slid over my mind. They should have listened to me. Should have waited. I told them not to go. I told them not to start.

  “Move, Fancy Pants.” Someone shoved me to the side.

  I elbowed them back.

  They caught me in the face with the butt of their gun. “If you’re not going to help her, move the fuck back,” Roger said in his calm voice. “I’ll take you down before I let her bleed out.” There was no anger, no emotion. Just the simple statement of fact.

  I leaned forward, brushed him out of the way. “There’s too much blood.”

  “Then it’s good Dr. House just arrived at the new location. Get your ass up, Fancy Pants.” He knocked me out of the way again. Pulled Talia up and into his arms.

  He started running with her.

  “Fancy Pants, come in, Fancy Pants,” Nik’s voice shot through my skull. “Striker is down. We need access to the computers.”

  “Figure it out, Grasshopper. Target is down.”

  Mas got in my face. “If you let them win like this, I’ll kill you right here, right now.” He had Karine in his grasp. He used her hair like a leash and dragged her around the room. The knife still stuck in her eye.

  I nodded. “Where is the server, Nik?”

  Chapter 37 – Arkady

  With everything going on around me, I was about to push to my feet and stumble after the man who’d run off with Talia. Smashing against walls, I tripped and slid down the halls in their wake.

  “Wait,” I called out. I was pretty sure the knife had either nicked a lung or fractured a rib, because breathing was becoming more and more strenuous.

  Someone stepped out of a connecting hall. A gun in his hand.

  I sucked in a breath. “DOWN!” I screamed as loud as I could.

  The guy holding Talia dropped to his knees immediately.

  With the last of my strength, I gathered myself and launched myself between the shooter and Talia. I felt the bullet graze my temple as I fell against her rescuer.

  “You’ve got to get her out of here,” I said as I felt him move under me.

  “I will.” He pushed me off him. Turned and used my body as a tripod to steady his shot. Within moments, gunshots filled the space.

  “He’s down. If you can get up, you can go with me,” the man said.

  I nodded.

  He pushed to his feet. Cuddled Talia up next to his body. “Let’s go. Evac won’t wait forever.”

  My breath heaving and shuddering through my chest, I got my knees under me. As my vision went wavy, I sucked in more air. Felt it whistle through my chest.

  “For fuck’s sake,” the guy growled. “Stay right here. I’ll be back for you.”

  “Save her. That’s,” the words caught in my throat.

  He snarled and darted off.

  I fell back to the ground. Not quite how I saw the end of this mission going, but they hadn’t killed her. Hadn’t raped her. I was counting it as a win.

  Just as my brain slipped sideways, someone caught my arms. Hauled me up and over a set of really broad shoulders.

  My chest ached with fire in my lungs at the bouncing. But at least I was awake.

  For now.

  Outside, the cold night air was a new brand of horror as each breath felt like spikes in my chest. The sound of a van door sliding open.

  I was thumped down onto the floor that gave slightly.

  “Go. I’ll stay here and help round everyone up.”

  “Just don’t get dead.”

  The door slammed.

  Reaching out, I felt for Talia. When I couldn’t feel her, panic sliced through my brain. “Wait! Where is she? Where did that fucker take her?” I shouted. Or tried to.

  “Ease back, Agent Weber. She’s here. Up to your right. About shoulder height,” someone said as the van moved into mo
tion.

  I reached up. Winced as the searing pain shredded my ribs. But I felt her. Felt the familiar heat of her body.

  “Get us out of here,” I said.

  When the darkness came this time, I allowed it to take me.

  Chapter 38 – Foster

  “What?” I growled low as I stabbed at the keyboard again.

  “She made it to Jessa,” Nik said in my ear. “She’s lost a lot of blood, but Jessa thinks she should be fine.”

  I blew out a breath, felt the band around my chest relax slightly. I didn’t make it go away completely. Nothing would do that, but holding her in my arms.

  And I was fucking stuck in this stupid hellhole trying to read Cyrillic so I could give Nik direct access to the computer. I wasn’t even in on the fun of questioning Karine. Or Svetlana, or whatever else she wanted to call herself.

  “Last line of code, FP. I promise,” Nik said in my ear.

  I pushed everything else aside, focused on the problem at hand. If I could get Nik what she needed, then I’d be able to get out of here. Go smash some heads in.

  Well, maybe not smash them in. Turns out Interpol agents still adhere to the Geneva Convention over here. More’s the pity.

  “YES! That’s it,” Nik crowed in my ear. “You can run along now. As long as no one shuts the system down completely, I’ll be able to download everything they have.”

  “That’s it? You don’t need me anymore?”

  “No. Go find Mas. You know you want to.” She double clicked her mic, the sign that she was no longer listening until it sounded urgent.

  I pushed back from the console, hotfooted it out of the security main office. Lifting a hand to my ear, I called for Mas. “Where are you?”

  “We’re in the south hall of the main room,” Roger answered.

  “On my way. Save some fun for me.”

  “Mas says to move your ass,” Roger announced.

  I broke into a run. Smiled as I saw all the blood and bodies on the floor of the main room. When that fucker had approached Talia, his dick out, I’d wanted to bolt across the room and smash his face to pieces.